By TAHLIA GANSER and KATE MARTIN

When wrestling coach Mark Brown was questioned about his relationship with a Concrete High School student in 2004, Brown replied, “What am I being sued for, raping someone?”

Four years later, Brown has been charged with just that.

Last week, Brown was charged with the rape of a 14-year-old student at Highland Christian Schools, where he took the job of principal after his contract with Concrete schools was not renewed.

When Mike Parker, Concrete’s former superintendent, heard the news, he wasn’t surprised.

At the end of the wrestling season in 2004, Parker heard rumors that Brown was spending time alone with one student.

“What I had heard didn’t sit well with me,” said Parker, who is now superintendent at Hoquiam School District.

Brown now faces third-degree rape charges in Snohomish County for allegedly having sex with a 14-year-old student after exchanging hundreds of text messages, one of which encouraged her to run away from home. He set up a room for her at Highland Christian Schools, where the alleged crime occurred, according to court documents. He was fired last Friday.

An investigation four years ago by the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office turned up allegations of Brown’s inappropriate behavior toward female students in Concrete, including one girl in particular with whom he developed a close relationship. However, the case closed when investigators found no evidence that Brown had committed a crime.

The investigation was sparked when a case worker with the state’s Child Protective Services agency told the Sheriff’s Office of suspicions about Brown’s conduct.

Investigators found that Brown was frequently texting a 17-year-old female student. One of his texts said, “I like you and I think about you all the time,” and “When I am not around you I imagine holding you close.”

The student denied any sexual contact with Brown in a written statement at the time, obtained this week from the Sheriff’s Office.

One witness told sheriff’s investigators that Brown and the girl watched a movie from his hotel room bed during a state wrestling tournament in Tacoma. They lay on their stomachs next to each other, the investigator’s report said.

In an interview with investigators, a witness said he “couldn’t hear their conversation, but it looked kind of weird,” according to the report.

In her written statement, the girl said she and Brown did watch a movie from the same bed, but were not close together.

“During the time we were watching the movie or anytime for that matter, he never touched me inappropriately,” she wrote.

She also explained the texts.

“I texted him telling him I liked him,” her statement says. “He wrote back telling me that he liked me too, but only as friends.”

The girl also wrote that Brown took her out to dinner on a Saturday night at the Burlington Red Robin restaurant.

According to the investigator’s report, when the girl’s mother was questioned about the dinner, she said Brown was helping her daughter with financial aid forms because she was interested in becoming a psychologist. Brown had taken some classes in the subject.

Parker was the Concrete superintendent in 2004.

“I didn’t know really the depth of what was taking place other than the fact that he was overly involved with her in terms of calling her and texting her,” Parker said. “I didn’t think it was appropriate at the time.”

But the 2004 investigation didn’t stop with the 17-year-old.

While helping his ex-wife, Casey West, coach volleyball at the high school, sheriff’s reports state, Brown told the girl’s volleyball team to wear skin-tight spandex instead of loose-fitting shorts.

The team then complained to the athletic director, Dave Faddis, about the spandex request, which led to a reprimand for Brown, the investigator’s report said.

West, of Darrington, divorced Brown in 2004 after finding out about Brown’s relationship with a student at Concrete High School, according to the Everett Herald newspaper.

West told the newspaper that she started dating Brown in 1996, when she was 14 and he was 26.

Brown was also disciplined an additional three separate times for taking students home in his personal vehicle, against the school’s policy, the report said.

Finally, Superintendent Parker requested a meeting with Brown. When Brown didn’t show up, Parker asked for another. Then another. It became clear, Parker said, that Brown did not want to meet to talk about the incidents.

“He didn’t persist in wanting a contract,” he said.

Shortly after Brown left, school officials from Darrington called to ask Parker why the district did not re-hire Brown. Apparently, Parker said, Brown wanted to coach at Darrington.

“I talked to several people about the reservations I had with him,” Parker said. “I told them that we didn’t have any closure on a situation involving a female student. He never did come in to give me his side of the story.”

Darrington did not hire Brown as coach after his stint at Concrete, though the district had utilized him as a volunteer before he coached in Concrete. Parker said nobody from Highland Christian Schools contacted him regarding Brown before Brown was hired as principal three years ago.

While some people involved in the Concrete case want to forget the investigation, the recent allegations in Arlington are stirring up confused emotions.

“My reaction was, at first, shock,” said one of Brown’s former Concrete wrestlers, Nick Fallis. “I really liked the guy. I’m still confused.”

Fallis, now 20, said Brown was a “phenomenal coach.” He pushed the wrestlers to make sure “we were on top of our game.”

Brown memorized competing wrestlers’ moves to give his students tips during tournaments. Fallis said he doesn’t remember seeing any suspicious contact between Brown and any females.

“I was young then, too,” Fallis said. “So I wasn’t really looking out for anything.”

If the Arlington case reveals that a crime might have occurred in Concrete too, the case will be re-opened, a Sheriff’s Office spokesman said.